Oranges... Mandarins... Orange you confused?

I read something recently but can't for the life of me remember where I read it. Well anyway the reasons that oranges, mandarins, and kumquats are passed around and given around Chinese New Year time is because Mandarin Orange 柑 - the name of the fruit is phonetically similar to gold -- jin ju (金橘子) in Mandarin or kam (金) in Cantonese. Another explanation is that the Mandarin word for mandarin oranges is ju (橘), which sounds like ji (吉) (ji xiang 吉 祥) meaning good luck.

From
http://www.nwchineseculturalassociation.org/cny.htm
and here
http://purple2001tulips.blogspot.com/2008/02/chinese-new-year-is-coming.html

Anyway, for those that don't know my distant relatives live in the same building as us just a couple of floors below, and we also share the same ayi. Every night bar one since I got back from Taiwan I've been eating dinner in their house. And every night my great aunt says to me, "Take some mandarins...". I did this reluctantly just to be polite. As mentioned before I don't have a big interest in food so I just took them out of politeness.

I had nowhere to put them or hold them so she started putting them in my jacket pocket. It was quite funny to see my pockets stuffed with them but I must've forgotten about them because the next night when I went down there for dinner again and she said again, "Take some mandarins..." I grabbed a bunch (these mandarins are tiny - about the size of a ping pong ball, btw) and I was about to put them into my pocket when I realised my pockets were already full!

Not knowing what to do (and feeling a little foolish and embarrassed!) I quickly said, "Oh I still have lots at home I haven't eaten yet..." and quickly changed the topic. Well the 'at home' part wasn't exactly the truth, but the 'haven't eaten part' was true!

So of course as soon as I got home I quickly took them out of my pocket and put them in the fruit bowl on the dining table. Then, of course I had to try one. I am not sure how common these mandarins are in China but in Australia they don't really exist. They are tiny! So I went to the kitchen and started peeling it and popped the entire thing in my mouth. Oh. My. God. It was so sweet and delicious. It was so amazingly sweet and juicy (and I normally don't like citrus fruits at all...) It was heavenly. I quickly then ate another two. And more. And soon they were all gone. Yep, all of them.

The third night when I went down for dinner I didn't wait for her to ask me.. I asked her if I could take some (more)! Ha!

PS When I was younger and people asked if I spoke Mandarin I would be a smartarse and answer, "No, but I speak Orange" and they'd look and me funny and some people would wonder if Orange actually was a language! Oh dear... :)

Ang Lee's Lust, Caution (Se, Jie) 色，戒

I remember seeing posters up for this a couple of months ago and commented to hubby that I wanted to see this. I had no idea what it was about but since it was directed by Ang Lee I wanted to see it.

I'm a big fan of his work having seen most of his prior films. It's funny because my father is so boring and doesns't appreciate anything to do with arts and entertainment by loves Ang Lee films (because he is Taiwanese and he supports anyone Taiwanese!) He took my sister and I to see "Eat Drink Man Woman" in Sydney many many years ago and ever since then I've been following his work. "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" (wo hu cang long) 臥虎藏龍/卧虎藏龙 was and still is one of my all-time favourite movies and I almost cried when I heard it won best foreign language film in 2001 at the Oscars. I also loved loved loved Tan Dun's musical talents in the film and saw him perform at the Sydney Opera House. (Coincidently, while I was there with hubby (then boyfriend) I bumped into my stepmum and we each had no idea we were both going to see it on exactly the same night. And knowing how many people the Opera House seats, it would've been a slim chance we bumped into each other too...)

Anyway back to "Lust Caution" I still haven't seen it yet, even though my local DVD store already sells it. The store owner told me the uncut version (from Hong Kong or the US) is not currently available but will be out later. The reason I haven't seen it yet is because my father told me that in China they cut out a part of the film. My first reaction was that they cut it because of political tensions/historical issues between China and Taiwan (I have no idea about the storyline remember?) but no, he said it was cut because it was too 'sexy'. Uh huh. OK. Great...

So I went searching on Google just now about some info on this...

http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/4896/

China does not have a classification system and predictably enough, "Lust, Caution" has prompted a major row over what is suitable viewing and how to control access to movies with adult content.

And this - a bizarre, weird, news story about a Beijing PhD student suing and seeking apologies for the trauma caused by watching the film without the censored part. Haha!

...Dong Yanbin, a Ph.D student at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, had filed a suit against the nation's film censor, the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT), for infringing upon his "consumer rights," the Beijing Times said.

"I felt greatly disappointed after seeing the movie," the paper quoted Dong as saying.

"Compared to Eileen Chang's original, the incomplete structure of 'Lust, Caution' and fragmented portrayal of the female lead's psyche makes it hard for the audience to appreciate the movie's art," Dong said.

Dong was seeking apologies and 500 yuan ($67) in "psychological damages" from both SARFT and UME, the cinema chain showing the movie, the paper said.

The court had yet to accept the case, it added.

UME had violated the audience's "fair trade rights," while SARFT had infringed upon "society's public interest" by failing to implement a rating system that would allow adults to see the film, it quoted Dong as saying.

"Lust, Caution" is open to children and adults alike in China, where academics and film-goers have been calling on authorities to implement a rating system for several years.

Despite the cuts, the movie has proved popular in China, reaping 90 million yuan ($12 million) in its first two weeks and being tipped by some to be the year's biggest box office success.

But some filmgoers in the southern province of Guangdong have opted to cross the border into Hong Kong to watch the full, uncut version, local media have reported.

Still, he has a point. China really has a hide censoring the internet as it is, and film as well. ARGH - it cheeses me off!



"Lust Caution" just won 7 awards in the 44th annual Golden Horse film awards in Taiwan.

The list of winners at the 44th Golden Horse Awards was announced Saturday in Taipei.

"Lust, Caution" won the Best Film award, as well as Best director, Best Actor and four other awards. Following is the list of the awards:

Best film: "Lust, Caution"

Best director: Ang Lee, "Lust, Caution"

Best actor: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, "Lust, Caution"

Best screenplay adaptation: James Schamus, Wang Hui-ling, "Lust, Caution"

Best film score: Alexandre Desplat, "Lust, Caution"

Best makeup and costume design: Pan Lai, Olympic Lau, "Lust, Caution"

Outstanding filmmaker of the year in Taiwan: Ang Lee

Best new performer: Tang Wei, "Lust, Caution"


Yay for Ang Lee! I can't wait to see the film in its entirety Thanks! :)

PS just found this on imdb. I generally try to avoid reading too much about tv shows or movies (that I haven't seen yet) on the 'net because I always inadvertently find spoilers...but... Woah that sux. I didn't know that every single person working on the film had to be 'foreign'? What is foreign anyway? (Would I be considered foreign?) That's kinda crap...

‘Lust, Caution’ was submitted as Taiwan's entry to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008), but it was rejected on 17 October 2007 by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences because many of the film's personnel were not Taiwanese. Taiwan substituted ‘Lust, Caution’ with Huai-en Chen's Lian xi qu (2006).

Zhang Yimou 张艺谋 One of the world's greatest directors

Mike and I both love films by Zhang Yimou. They are so beautiful, inspiring, and show the undeterminable strength of the human character.

My mother introduced us to his films a few years ago. She said, "I borrowed this video tape from the Chinese video store. Here take a look. I bet you'll like this movie." I watched it, and I was hooked. I bawled my eyes out. The film was The Road Home the film that launched Zhang Ziyi's film career.

(NB: In English their names should be Yimou Zhang and Ziyi Zhang but I feel so weird saying that because I'm used to calling them by their Chinese name which puts the surname first).

No matter how many times I watch that film I am reduced to tears. When Mike and I were in Kuala Lumpur (just before we arrived in Shanghai), it came on television and I was already bawling my eyes out because I knew what was going to happen.

I thought that movie was 'bad' for making one cry.. that was until I saw To Live, starring Gong Li.

I bought the DVD For Mike as a Christmas present. I got some 40% off DVD vouchers at Borders and figured it was a good idea to use them for Christmas presents. I also bought my sister a DVD from there for Christmas. Anyway, since I know Mike loves foreign films I went to that section and ummed and erred for HOURS about which ones to get. I ended up getting him To Live and Pushing Hands by Ang Lee.

We finally got around to watching To Live only in April (due to all our wedding planning, wedding and honeymoon in Jan-March).. and OMG it was the most beautiful, sad, gut-wrenching, amazingly emotional film I have ever seen! If you have seen the trailers you get a vague idea of what it's about. Apart from the story lines involving family relationships there is the backdrop of the historical changes throughout China in the turbulent times of the 40s, 50s ,60s and 70s.










In terms of pulling at one's heartstrings it is along the lines of the wonderful Life is Beautiful (La Vita è bella) by the wonderful Roberto Benigni. I also find those two films similar because the backdrop is based on real events through time and history. I love how you get a sense of what it must've felt like to be in that situation. Just amazing.

Another one I should mention is Not one less. A low budget film, it reportedly stars no actors. All of the people in the film are just normal people that Yimou found. It is such a simple story, but so sweet, and lovely. It is one of my sister's favourite films.

Of course then there are the recent blockbusters Hero and House of Flying Daggers. It's so easy to compare the two, as they were released so close together and both star Zhang Ziyi. I'm not sure which one I liked better but I absolutely loved the way that colours were used in the landscape scenes in House of Flying Daggers. The way it was filmed and done with the frozen water and everything, it was breathtaking.

If you have never watched a Zhang Yimou film, you should. You won't regret it! :)

NB: The beautiful film To Live, which won a prestigious award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994, is banned in China which is ironic given it was made here and starred Chinese actors/actresses. But if you have seen the film you can understand why. There is the sensitive issue with the cultural revolution and that tumultuous era.

PS: Under no circumstances should you go and look it up on imdb. Unless you want to know pretty much everything that happens!